New Delhi
Pakistan is engaged in cooking up fresh plots against India, as per a recent intelligence report sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The document asserts that Pakistan’s spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is planning to dispatch various weaponry, including small firearms, grenades, sticky bombs, and more, by drones into India’s Jammu and Punjab in the near future.
The report highlights that Pakistan is concerned that post the abrogation of Article 370, a systematic takedown of top terrorist leaders in the Kashmir valley has resulted in a major shortage of weapons among terrorist groups. Simultaneously, there has been a marked decrease in the local populace joining these outfits. Accordingly, the Pakistani authorities have planned a response, says the report.
The intelligence report outlines that the ISI, with the support of terrorist groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, has established drone centres in Lahore and Sialkot to escalate drone activities into India. These facilities house a significant number of drones manufactured in China. The report mentions that the command of the drone hubs has been entrusted to Jaish and Lashkar commanders who operate under the leadership of a brigadier rank officer of the ISI. The drones are loaded with both weaponry and narcotics, for delivery to Lahore and Sialkot from where these go to the launchpads that the ISI and the Pakistan Army have created in Sialkot and Narowal.
In its plan to deploy drones at Punjab’s frontiers, the ISI has identified specific regions, encompassing Tarn Taran, Amritsar and Gurdaspur. In these areas, approximately 230 individuals have a background in the Khalistan movement. The ISI intends to use them to distribute these weapons throughout Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. The strategy also aims to intensify the narcotics issue in Punjab, generating confusion among the youth and potentially driving them towards terrorist groups.
The intelligence report has triggered a heightened state of alertness within the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Army’s mobile hunting units. The report also discloses ISI’s strategy of deploying decoy drones to distract the security forces, while the real armed drones infiltrate Indian territory, potentially through sectors like Kathua, Samba, Ramgarh, RS Pura, Akhnoor and Rajouri.
Pakistan’s drone missions have three primary objectives: monitoring Indian security forces along the border, smuggling narcotics into India via drones, and disseminating weaponry within India. Instances involving drone-based delivery of weapons have risen since 2020, with 79 cases reported in 2020, 109 in 2021, and 266 in 2022. In 2023 alone, around 200 cases have already been detected.
According to the intelligence report, Pakistan Army Chief, Gen Asim Munir, has directed senior officers stationed along the Line of Control (LOC) to utilize drones to transport weapons and narcotics into Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir. He has also instructed military personnel to devise innovative strategies to incite fear in Jammu & Kashmir.
In response to these imminent threats, Indian intelligence agencies have been placed on a heightened state of vigilance to foil ISI’s plans and actions.